Honor killings on the rise in Netherlands

In the last few years, there have been more than 500 reports of honor killing in the Netherlands. In 2013, the number even rose. These incidents take the form of abuse, rape, kidnapping or murder, and are all in the effort to avenge someone.

This is according to the yearly report from the National Expertise Center Honor Related Violence (LEC EGG). The center gets requests for help from regional police units, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) and from institutions where female victims are sheltered.

The victims of honor revenge are mostly Dutch people with a Turkish, Moroccan, Iraqi or Afghan background. In 20 cases in 2013, whereby the expertise center was involved, the revenge was fatal, with either murder, homicide or suicide.

One of these cases happened in belgium, and in two instances they were cold cases, unsolved but not expired. In 2012, fifteen people were killed. In 2011, nine lost their lives to revenge killings.

The LEC EGG keeps contact with networks of Turkish and Moroccan groups, among others, in the Netherlands to be able to step in on time.